[EN] CleanAirBXL - update and request for help

NEWSLETTER CLEANAIRBXL Hello! Thank you (again) for signing the petition for clean air in Brussels! While you might have thought we’ve gone a bit quiet, we actually have been very busy and have been having some major impacts, meaning we actually had no time to update you on all the exciting stuff that has been happening :) ! Apologies for that! WE NEED YOUR HELP TO BE SUCCESSFUL [If you don’t have time to read all of the below, here is the 3 second version:] We’re making waves, but we need to do more. So we need your help! Please share the campaign and the petition with your family, friends and colleagues. We have 2 more weeks ahead of the Government’s vote on the plan to really beef up the numbers - if each of you find two more signatories we can meet the magic 10.000 number! THE FULL UPDATE After many people asked us to continue build pressure after the consultation exercise on the Brussels Air-Climate-Energy (PACE) plan was finished, we decided to organise a number of actions to show how bad the air really is in Brussels, so that the government voting on this plan would know that we are dead serious about wanting better air. So let us fill you in a little bit on on all the exciting stuff we’ve been up to and what we have achieved so far on cleaning up the air in the city we love. WHAT HAVE WE DONE SO FAR 1. We’ve started gathering our own air pollution data. Even though we knew the situation is not good in Brussels – Belgium is being taken to court by the European Commission for breaching agreed EU air quality law – we wanted to check this for ourselves. We borrowed a measuring device for Ultra Fine Particles (UFPs) and took it with us on our way to work, when dropping our kids, in front of our houses. We should have been prepared, but we were shocked. If above 50,000 qualifies as pollution, we registered on several occasions pollution levels of 200.000 and more. Our actions were covered by TV Brussel (http://www.brusselnieuws.be/nl/video/tvbrussel/burgerbeweging-meet-luchtvervuiling-gevolgen-draag-je-je-hele-leven-mee). These findings made us only more determined to fight for better air. At times we felt as if our heads were in a permanent polluted bubble. 2.We’ve organised a media stunt to catch the attention of press and politicians, and Brussels media are now following our campaign. We got coverage in the major French speaking newspaper last week for our campaign. On the day of the parliamentary debate on the PACE plan, we dressed up like waiters and stood outside of the Parliament, offering dirty water to parliamentarians, which they of course did not want to drink! Our message was: ‘you wouldn’t drink dirty water, but we’re breathing more than 10,000 litres of dirty air a day in Brussels’! La Libre (De l’eau sale pour les deputes http://www.lalibre.be/regions/bruxelles/de-l-eau-sale-pour-les-deputes-560ed3a835700fb92f616efb) and DH (Un verre d’eau sale monsieur le depute? http://www.dhnet.be/regions/bruxelles/un-verre-d-eau-sale-monsieur-le-depute-560e49e735700fb92f5e4edf) wrote about it, as well as Brusselsnieuws (Burgerbeweging voor Schone Lucht schenkt troebel water aan politici http://www.dhnet.be/regions/bruxelles/un-verre-d-eau-sale-monsieur-le-depute-560e49e735700fb92f5e4edf). We’ve been in the media several times over summer too. 3. We wrote letters to politicians, and they are feeling the pressure! Ahead of the parliamentary debate on Friday 2 october, CleanAirBXL sent letters with our concerns and demands to all 87 Brussels parliamentarians, as well as to Minister President Vervoort. During the debate, several deputies mentioned CleanAirBXL, and several references were made to our demands, directly challenging the Minister for Environment, Ms Celine Fremault, to improve the plan with clearer priorities, results, timelines and budgets. You can read the report of the debate here. We also had several responses from politicians requests to meet. >>> FIRST RESULTS